Dezeen » typographyhttp://www.dezeen.com
architecture and design magazineTue, 31 Mar 2015 21:00:38 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Comic Spurs typeface is Comic Sans with added ironyhttp://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/09/comic-spurs-typeface-comic-sans-irony/
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/09/comic-spurs-typeface-comic-sans-irony/#commentsTue, 09 Dec 2014 10:42:44 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=608223Two designers from different sides of the globe have used a fictional design company to launch a new version of Comic Sans, with added spurs to lend it a "vintage, Mid-Western American aesthetic". Sydney-based design director Michael Kleinman and New York art director Declan Byrnes-Enoch have published Comic Spurs under the name James H Goldberg. Related story: "People who don't […]

Comic Spurs is based on Comic Sans, the comic book-style typeface designers love to hate. Each letter has added barbs, some running through the middle and some sticking out from only one side. These are the spurs referred to in the title – a reference to the spikes worn by horse riders and cowboys on their boots.

The typeface is available from a bespoke website, which introduces Comic Spurs as a way to "fight back against the anti-establishment establishment".

"These days it is getting harder and harder to be ironic," it says. "Comic Sans used to be funny to designers, but it's been corrupted by 'The Man'."

The designers said they created the typeface as a response to a growing trend for typography and branding "with a vintage, Mid-Western American aesthetic".

"It's usually accompanied by smaller words and slogans like 'Artisanal' or 'Finest Quality'," the designers told Dezeen. "Since those words require very little substantiation, it's easy to perceive them as fake, almost ironic. How could something so weathered have been founded last Tuesday?"

"So the challenge was to authentically reproduce this style with the world's most ironic font."

Comic Spurs can be downloaded from the specially created website, and is available to use for free.

It is part of a wider collaboration under the name James H Goldberg, through which the designers work on "absurd" projects that poke fun at the design world.

"As creative professionals we usually work on more sincere projects and have both at times seen the absurdity in what we do, and how seriously people can take it," they said. "James H Goldberg provides the perfect opportunity to reflect that absurdity, with the same techniques we use to create sincerity on a daily basis."

Past projects have included Creative Promises, a range of 3D-printed promise rings – jewellery used to demonstrate commitment to a partner before or instead of marriage – designed to show the "special bond" between art director and copywriter.

"From that, we realised one of the most enjoyable aspects was reading people's interpretations of our work, good or bad, it's fascinating," they said. "So we wanted to make something that people would react to. Cue Comic Sans. And the fact that it's probably the most overused joke in the design world only adds fuel to the fire."

Kleinman and Byrnes-Enoch said that they hoped Comic Spurs would provoke a strong reaction but also show how design can be used to "manipulate people's perception".

"If a middle-class office worker with a neck tattoo looks like a badass, maybe Comic Sans with spurs can too," they said.

Based on hand lettering found in comic books, Comic Sans was first distributed as a part of Microsoft's standard font package in 1995.

Its availability on millions of desktop computers rapidly made it one of the most popular typefaces in the world, but designers who felt it was being used "inappropriately" began to campaign against it in 2000.

It is now described by the V&A Museum as "one of the most popular and despised typefaces in existence".

"I think people who don't like Comic Sans don't know anything about design," Connare told Dezeen. "They don't understand that in design you have a brief."

"The timing couldn't have been better because to us it kind of signified the very end of the Comic Sans joke," said Kleinman and Byrnes-Enoch.

"You could say that one of the fundamental differences between art and design is a brief. Connare had a brief and he answered it so well that to use it for anything other than its original purpose is utterly ridiculous."

"Like using Papyrus for a futuristic action sci-fi film; its misuse is the joke, not the font itself. Talking cartoon dog? Definitely. Extruded signage for an audiology clinic? Maybe not."

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/09/comic-spurs-typeface-comic-sans-irony/feed/4"People who don't like Comic Sans don't know anything about design"http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/27/vincent-connare-typography-interview-comic-sans-ms/
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/27/vincent-connare-typography-interview-comic-sans-ms/#commentsThu, 27 Nov 2014 19:06:05 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=601563Interview: ahead of his talk at London's V&A museum on Friday, typographer Vincent Connare has defended the reviled Comic Sans font he created, saying its detractors "don't know anything about design". Designed in 1994 and inspired by comic-book speech bubbles, the ubiquitous sans-serif font has become the typeface that designers love to hate and even […]

Designed in 1994 and inspired by comic-book speech bubbles, the ubiquitous sans-serif font has become the typeface that designers love to hate and even has a website dedicated to its abolition.

"I think people who don't like Comic Sans don't know anything about design," Connare told Dezeen. "They don't understand that in design you have a brief."

Vincent Connare was one of the early pioneers of digital typeface design, working on fonts for Agfa and Apple in the early 1990s before joining Microsoft, where he designed both the web-friendly Trebuchet font family and the now infamous Comic Sans MS.

"It was important at Microsoft to show people how things could be done. The group back then were doing things five years or more ahead of everybody," Connare told Dezeen. "We were addressing issues with various types of screens and devices. Today we are actually doing less internally in the code of fonts than we did 15 years ago."

Originally designed in 1994 to fill in the speech bubbles in a programme called Microsoft Bob, which featured a cartoon dog that offered tips on how to use a computer, Comic Sans was based on the hand lettering in comic books that Connare had lying around in his office.

"I was asked to comment on what I thought of the use of typography in this new application. I said I liked the drawings and cartoon characters and it was fun but I thought it was lazy to just use the system font Times New Roman in the speech balloons," Connare told Dezeen.

"I looked at the comic books I had in my office and drew up with a mouse on a computer an example of hand lettering that I showed to the group, with images of the cartoon dog Rover talking in this style of font. I did not intend to make a font. I was just showing them how I thought it would look better in a cartoon style."

Although the typeface was never used in the program it was originally designed for – it was introduced too late in the development process – it became popular in internal communications at Microsoft.

In 1995 it was included in the company's standard font package for Windows, putting it in the hands of millions of computer users. It was also included as a standard option in the Internet Explorer browser, expanding its reach even further.

"There are 200-300 fonts installed on every computer but people pick Comic Sans because it is different and it looks more like handwriting and does not look like an old school text book," explained Connare. "It is a personal decision. The same could be asked of why do people like Ugg boots, Justin Bieber or pink tracksuits."

Microsoft Bob

By the end of the 1990s, the ubiquity of Comic Sans in home-made signage and children's school projects was beginning to generate a backlash from some designers. Critics felt it was being used "inappropriately".

In 2000, Connare received an email from Holly and David Combs, the founders of the Ban Comic Sans website, alerting him to the growing animosity towards his creation.

"Technological advances have transformed typography into a tawdry triviality," says the Ban Comic Sans manifesto. "Clearly, Comic Sans as a voice conveys silliness, childish naivete, irreverence, and is far too casual... It is analogous to showing up for a black tie event in a clown costume."

The V&A, where Connare is talking tomorrow night as part of its typography themed late night event What the Font?, describes Comic Sans as "one of the most popular and despised typefaces in existence" and cites its appearance on gravestones and government job applications as examples of its inappropriate use.

Connare once described the typeface as "the best joke I ever told". He does not regret creating it and believes that people who don't like Comic Sans don't understand the purpose of design.

"Comic Sans matched the brief, the brief of the entire Microsoft Consumer Division to put a 'Computer in Every Home' and to make something popular for the people of these homes and their kids. Comic Sans is loved by kids, mums and many dads. So it did its job very well. It matched the brief!"

Vincent Connare

Connare is now based in London, where he works for font foundry Dalton Maag training new designers.

"Anybody who says they would not like to design a typeface that makes such an impact and is used by so many people and on so many products, is lying to themselves," he said. "I would love to make something again that everyone loved and others would hate."

What the Font? takes place at the V&A from 6.30pm until 10pm and includes talks from Connare, typographer Jonathan Barnbrook and Christian Boer, designer of the Dyslexie typeface.

Read the full transcript from our interview with Vincent Connare:

Anna Winston: Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became a typographer?

Vincent Connare: I began my career in type design back in 1987. I was living in New York City and decided to move back to Massachusetts for work. I started working as a photographer and darkroom technician but got bored of the hours and being in the dark for eight hours, so I applied to [typesetting systems company] Compugraphic in Wilmington, Massachusetts. I worked the second shift from 4pm to midnight. First I was converting their type library from a photographic library to the new Ikarus font format by URW in Germany. I then moved into the Intellifont hinting team, creating fonts for Hewlett-Packard Laserjet printers. In 1991 I was chosen to work on the new TrueType font format that Apple released. I created Agfa's (formerly Compugraphic) first TrueType fonts. In 1993 I began working for Microsoft in the Advanced Technologies research group. We later were reorganised into Microsoft Typography.

Anna Winston: What led to the development of Comic Sans?

Vincent Connare: In 1994 a program manager by the name of Tom Stephens came into my office with a CD called Utopia, this was the new application that was being released by the new Consumer Division. Its marketing manager was the future Melinda French Gates.

Comic Sans matched the brief

I was asked to comment on what I thought of the use of typography in this new application. I said I liked the drawings and cartoon characters and it was fun but I think it was lazy to just use the system font Times New Roman in the speech balloons. I looked at the comic books I had in my office and drew up with a mouse on a computer an example of hand lettering that I showed to the group with images of the cartoon dog Rover talking in this style of font as opposed to Times New Roman. I did not intend to make a font. I was just showing them how I thought it would look better in a cartoon style.

They liked it and asked me to continue to develop the font and that font became Comic Sans. It was not used in Utopia which was later named Microsoft Bob because the program was in its final beta and they could not change the default font at this time. It was used in another cartoon application called 3D Movie Maker. It got heavily used by the Microsoft administrative assistants in their emails and someone in marketing added it to the first Internet Explorer and the OEM version of Windows 95. This is the version of Windows that is given to computer manufacturers to install in their computers. So every computer sold with Windows 95 had Comic Sans in it and every copy of Internet Explorer had it too.

Anna Winston: What do you think it was about Comic Sans that made it so popular?

Vincent Connare: There are 200-300 fonts installed on every computer but people pick Comic Sans because it is different and it looks more like handwriting and does not look like an old school text book. It is a personal decision. The same could be asked of why do people like Ugg boots, Justin Bieber or pink tracksuits.

Anna Winston: What's the most unusual use you've seen of the typeface?

Vincent Connare: I think the most recent unusual use of Comic Sans is on the Spanish Copa del Rey league cup. The new cup uses Comic Sans to inscribe the years winners.

Anna Winston: When did it begin to feel like some people were turning against it?

Vincent Connare: Probably when I received an email back in 2000 from the people who set up the Ban Comic Sans site. I thought, if they have nothing better to do, why should I stop them.

The same could be asked of why do people like Ugg boots, Justin Bieber or pink tracksuits

Anna Winston: A lot of people say they don't like Comic Sans, why do you think that is? Does it bother you?

Vincent Connare: I think people who don't like Comic Sans don't know anything about design. They don't understand that in design you have a brief. Comic Sans matched the brief, the brief of the entire Microsoft Consumer Division to put a "Computer in Every Home" and to make something popular for the people of these homes and their kids. Comic Sans is loved by kids, mums and many dads. So it did its job very well. It matched the brief! No it doesn't bother me in the least.

Anna Winston: Has the public's changing relationship with Comic Sans affected how you think about designing typefaces now?

Vincent Connare: No. I think anybody who says they would not like to design a typeface that makes such an impact and is used by so many people and on so many products, is lying to themselves. I would love to make something again that everyone loved and others would hate.

Anna Winston: How important was that early work at Microsoft in the development of digital typefaces more generally?

Vincent Connare: It was important at Microsoft to show people how things could be done. The group back then were doing things five years or more ahead of everybody. We were addressing issues with various types of screens and devices. This was 15 years ago and it is now commonplace that we have to address type on these new small devices. Today we are actually doing less internally in the code of fonts than we did 15 years ago.

Anna Winston: Screens are becoming smaller and smaller with devices like the Apple Watch – what impact does this have on digital typeface design?

Vincent Connare: Small screens are not a problem. Displaying type on these screens means we have to do less. Something like a watch would have a limited amount of font sizes and doesn't need scalable font formats. If the font doesn't scale then you could just use .png or bitmap font formats like we used to do for screens or printers. These are fast and ready to display unlike outline fonts.

Anna Winston: What are you working on at the moment?

Vincent Connare: Currently I am working in the group responsible for training (called Skills and Process) at Dalton Maag. I am teaching new designers the reality of making digital typography and teaching them how to hint or program fonts.

Type design and developing fonts is much more technical than other fields of design

Anna Winston: What makes typography different from other fields of design?

Vincent Connare: Type design and developing fonts is much more technical than other fields of design. The only other field of design as technical is web design and development.

Anna Winston: A lot of people use the words font and typeface interchangeably to describe the same thing. Is this a problem?

Vincent Connare: The term font doesn't actually apply anymore. The old word fount referred to the specific case of letterpress letters in a style and weight of a typeface. In modern use it refers to a specific font file such as Times Roman Bold. Typeface usually refers to the whole family of Times Roman. On computers the term font is synonymous with typeface because it is used in menus this way. If we want to be pedantic we could say the menu should say Fonts since it is a list of all the font names of the font files on the computer.

In French software, the menu reads: police des caractères. People use the term police to mean a font and a typeface too.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/27/vincent-connare-typography-interview-comic-sans-ms/feed/35Swiss watch based on Helvetica typeface arrives at Dezeen Watch Storehttp://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/19/mondaine-helvetica-watch-interview-martin-drechsel/
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/19/mondaine-helvetica-watch-interview-martin-drechsel/#commentsWed, 19 Nov 2014 21:00:25 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=595523Dezeen Watch Store: Swiss watchmaker Mondaine has released a watch dedicated to Helvetica, the iconic typeface designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. Now available to buy at Dezeen Watch Store, Helvetica watch was created by German industrial designer Martin Drechsel and comes in three "weights" that represent the principles of the original typeface: Light, Bold and Regular. […]

Dezeen Watch Store: Swiss watchmaker Mondaine has released a watch dedicated to Helvetica, the iconic typeface designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann.

Now available to buy at Dezeen Watch Store, Helvetica watch was created by German industrial designer Martin Drechsel and comes in three "weights" that represent the principles of the original typeface: Light, Bold and Regular.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/19/mondaine-helvetica-watch-interview-martin-drechsel/feed/1Apple releases San Francisco typeface for watch-app developershttp://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/19/apple-launches-san-francisco-typeface-for-watch-app-developers/
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/19/apple-launches-san-francisco-typeface-for-watch-app-developers/#commentsWed, 19 Nov 2014 17:25:41 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=595678News: the typeface used on the recently unveiled Apple Watch has been made available to download alongside a kit of tools for developers who are customising apps for the device. The sans-serif typeface, named San Francisco, comes in 23 variations and was designed in-house by Apple's team for use on the watch's 3.8-centimetre display. Related […]

It comes as part of the tech giant's WatchKit, which was released yesterday to provide developers with the ability to extend and enhance the functionality of apps onto the Apple Watch when it becomes available early next year.

Although aimed at app creators, the font family can also be downloaded to replace the default graphics on other Mac devices with high-resolution Retina displays.

Apple commented that it "developed a new typeface to maximise legibility" on the device when it was unveiled in September.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/19/apple-launches-san-francisco-typeface-for-watch-app-developers/feed/9Christian Boer designs typeface for readers with dyslexiahttp://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/09/christian-boer-dyslexie-typeface-dyslexia-easier-reading-istanbul-design-biennial-2014/
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/09/christian-boer-dyslexie-typeface-dyslexia-easier-reading-istanbul-design-biennial-2014/#commentsSun, 09 Nov 2014 15:00:54 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=586746Istanbul Design Biennial 2014: a typeface created specifically for dyslexic people by Dutch designer Christian Boer is on show at this year's Istanbul Design Biennial (+ slideshow). Although it looks like a traditional typeface, Dyslexie by Christian Boer is designed specifically for people with dyslexia – a neurological disorder that causes a disconnect between language […]

Although it looks like a traditional typeface, Dyslexie by Christian Boer is designed specifically for people with dyslexia – a neurological disorder that causes a disconnect between language and visual processing making it difficult for the brain to process text. Dyslexia is estimated to affect 10 per cent of the world's population, according to UK charity Dyslexia Action.

The 26 letters in the Roman alphabet are commonly derived from a set of vertical, horizontal, diagonal and rounded strokes.

These abstract forms are usually replicated for neatness and consistency across a typeface. This means the letters become more similar, making it harder for dyslexics to distinguish between them.

For example in Swiss typeface Helvetica, the letter "n" is used upside down as a "u", "d" is a back to front "b", and "q" is a mirrored "p".

In Boer's typeface, the letters are designed with heavier bottom portions to prevent the reader's mind from turning them upside down.

Lengthened ascenders and descenders – the portions of the characters that stretch beyond the two main horizontal guides – also makes them easier to tell apart.

Letters that usually appear similar are subtly italicised and have added tails where possible, so they no longer look alike and pose less risk of the reader mirroring them.

Boer has also added larger spaces between letters and words, as well as bold capitals and punctuation marks so the start and end of sentences can be better differentiated.

"By changing the shape of the characters so that each is distinctly unique, the letters will no longer match one another when rotated, flipped or mirrored," Boer said. "Bolder capitals and punctuation will ensure that users don't accidentally read into the beginning of the next sentence."

Boer first designed the typeface in 2008 and presented it during a TED talk in 2011. The project is currently on display for the second Istanbul Design Biennial, which continues until 14 December.